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Celestials
The term Celestial is given to any of the beings from the higher plane of existence generally referred to as Heaven. The first Celestials were dreamed into existence by an entity known only as the Source, and aided it in the creation of the Physical Universe. The act of creation was polluted by the arrogance of a Celestial called Lucifer, recognized as the greatest, who convinced many other Celestials that this new Material World would supplant them in the eyes of the Source. A war in Heaven broke out between those Celestials that had faith in the Source and those who felt slighted. When it became clear that Lucifer’s intention was to overthrow the Source and rule Creation himself, he was abandoned by his allies and punished by having his Celestial essence removed. He saved himself by creating a body made from Hellfire and became the first Devil, Satan. His essence, corrupted by his hatred, fell through time and space until it eventually grafted itself onto the Goddess Shiva. Unable to return to Heaven in his new state, Satan decided that if he could not rule Creation then he would destroy it. He begat the race of Devils which spread chaos across the new Creation, the Source asked for volunteers to take on material form and descend to the lower planes to restore Order. Many did, creating bodies made from the dust of the Midplane, becoming the first Gods. While many Celestials were directly created by the Source itself, others were originally material beings who achieved apotheosis through means of an obscure process called Enlightenment. Upon achieving Enlightenment, a being sheds its material form and begins life as a being of pure thought and energy and is able to take its place in Heaven. Adam has stated that one of the points of the cycle of life, death and rebirth in the Lower Planes is to try to get material beings to achieve Enlightenment so that they can exist in the Highplane. 'Physiology' Celestials are beings of pure energy who can manipulate their form any way they choose. While they normally exist in a state impossible for material beings to recognize, when they do manifest it is usually in the appearance of whatever race they are talking to. This manifestation form appears to be indistinguishable from a true material body, being able to be touched and interacted with. The manifestation form is often enough to completely fool the sense of even the most astute material beings and technological devices unless the Celestial wishes to appear otherwise. Even in this form they are completely immune to any attempt by a material being to harm them. To a Celestial, even a SS-Class is no more dangerous than the tiniest insect. An unnerving aspect to them found by Aura Sensitive races is that the Celestials do not seem to register at all. A being is clearly there and interacting with them, but the material being cannot sense any Aura presence. Even those skilled at sensing beings masking their Aura are known to comment that the Celestial simply does not appear to be there at all. According to Adam, this is because the Celestial is so powerful and on a level so far above the material being’s senses, that they simply can’t recognize it. 'Powers' The Celestials are effectively omnipotent, being able to manipulate time, space, matter, and energy. Because they don’t exist in linear time, they have the ability to perceive and know events in the past, present, and future, and even look across multiple timelines. While they can manifest in any time and place they choose, they are generally understood to exist in multiple places and times at once. They are invulnerable and immortal, except when faced with weapons designed by others of their kind: in sufficient numbers, Celestials can strip other Celestials of their powers and make them mortal or make them any life form they wish. 'Personality' Celestial personalities and motivations are largely incomprehensible to material beings, partly because their intelligences are working on a higher level than is possible for lower races to understand and also because Celestials (even those that were once Material) have little to no concept of linear time. Their attitude toward the affairs of the non-Celestial living in the lower planes, is one of general indifference, the exception being an interest in the development and progress of those races close to apotheosis. Even those Celestials that were once material are generally ambivalent towards their home plane. Upon being able to stretch their consciousness across the whole of existence, holding on to their prior identity tends to become unimportant and even when they are aware that they come from the Lower Planes, they often cannot remember who they were or what race they belonged to. Most however, maintain a sense that the Lower Planes are important and will watch emerging races with great interest. 'Culture and Society' The Celestials inhabit the dimension known alternately as the Highplane or Heaven, and they and the Source are the only kind of beings that can exist there. If a material being who has not achieved Enlightenment attempts to access the dimension, they will burn out and cease to exist. While social structure in Heaven is generally unknown, the Celestial calling himself Adam seems to infer that there is a caste or ranking system by which the Celestials arrange themselves. In a conversation with June Hammer, who was attempting to understand the Celestials as Angels and the Source as God, she asked if they were arranged as angelic choirs. Adam attempted to say it was more complicated than that, but said if she had to understand it as “the closer to the Source; the greater the Celestial” then that was close enough. Some Celestials have been given more authority in the lower planes than others. For instance, the Celestials calling themselves Adam and Hela have been charged with maintaining a loosely defined order in the Midplane and Underplane respectively. While their actions and the apparent randomness of the situations in which they choose to take part regularly confounds material beings with whom they interact, Adam states that a great deal of his job is taken up undoing the mischief of other Celestials. While most Celestials consider the Material Planes to be of no concern, others find it to be vibrant and interesting and explore it for themselves. They are forbidden by mandate of the Source of directly acting for or against material beings, and both the lower planes have a Guardian in charge of making sure that other Celestials obey this edict. Should one abuse their powers in the material planes, whatever they did is undone by the power of other Celestials and they in turn are punished. What these punishments are is never directly stated, but they are severe enough that no Celestial dares to openly disregard the laws. 'Religion' While it is unsure if it can be regarded as true religion since the Celestials are in the constant presence of their “God,” all Celestials are unwaveringly devoted to the will of the Source. As the Celestial Adam states, “as we are to beings like you, so the Source is to us.” Category:Races Category:Highplane Races